ColdWave Week 2016
by BustyWritesStuff
Summary: A series of One-Shots/Ficlets/Drabbles about the endlessly wonderful rare-pair that is ColdWave AKA Len Snart Mick Rory written for ColdWave Week 2016. Seven Chapters for Seven Days. Chapters range from fluffy to smutty but all chapters will be tagged accordingly.
1. Day One: Lean On Me

With a barely audible groan, Mick Rory woke from his oddly unpleasant slumber and found himself laying flat on his back on an unforgivably cold concrete floor. Besides the fact that his back was absolutely aching, ( _Mick wasn't as young as he used to be, so sleeping on the floor just wasn't the done thing anymore_ ) his head was pounding like a damn drum and judging by the excruciating pain ripping up his sides Mick almost certainly had at least one, no wait, two broken ribs.

Opening his eyes for just a second to try and scope out his surrounding, Mick immediately noticed that he seemed to be being held in a pathetically tiny cell with the only way in or out sealed shut by a rather nasty, powerful looking lock.

Fantastic. And the hits just keep on coming.

Trying and failing to carefully push himself upwards into a sitting position, Mick cursed silently as the sharp ache in his side only seemed to compound itself with each minute movement. A terrible idea in hindsight. The pain was horrifically intense and honestly a little hard to describe, but it felt strangely similar to the time that one of the pricks back at Iron Heights had shivved him while he was waiting in the lunch line.

Ah those were the good days.

Sighing silently as he allowed himself to flop back down onto the solid floor behind him in apparent defeat, Mick lay perfectly still with his eyes closed over as he desperately willed the pain in his side to dissipate as quickly as possible. He'd done this plenty of times before so by now he knew that the less he moved the less pain he would be in, so that was something to aim for at least. Mick really didn't like feeling this helpless, but considering the circumstances he found himself in there were worst ways to be feeling. At the very least he was still alive. That had to count for something right?

" _Morning."_ Suddenly said Len's comfortingly familiar voice from somewhere or other to Mick's far left. _"Or evening I suppose. I'm not sure to be honest. I lost track of time a while ago."_

" _Morni- ugh, whatever."_ Mick grumbled.

" _Heh. Glad to see you're still the Mick I know and tolerate. That thump to the head you took had me worried there. How you feeling?"_ Len asked.

" _Like shit. How're you?"_ Mick replied curtly, feeling a little too disorientated to really bother with niceties.

" _More or less the same. My heads aching and I think I may have broken my ankle when Savage's goons threw us in here. Bar that though I'm feeling just peachy"_ Len said with a painful sounding wince. Mick wasn't even looking at Len but he just knew that the other male had waved the aforementioned limb around in the air as he spoke. Len always did like being fucking dramatic.

" _Savage? What the hell are you talki- oh. Right. Ah shit..."_ Mick started to say before allowing his voice to drift away into nothingness towards the end.

Savage. Vandal Savage. Yep, it was all starting to come back to Mick now. What had started as a simple reconnaissance mission for the rag-tag team that called Rip Hunter's 'Waverider' home had quickly went south when Vandal Savage himself arrived on the scene and tossed a metaphorical wrench right into their less than stellar plans. While the majority of the team had seemingly managed to escape, Len and Mick were not so lucky.

Mick truly wished that he were more surprised that those bastards had left them behind, but in his heart of hearts Mick knew the others had wanted them, or just Mick himself if he were being completely honest, gone for quite some time now.

" _So, How long have you been awake for?"_ Mick eventually piped up, deciding that a boring conversation with his wounded lover was more agreeable than being forced to sit and dwell on his increasingly dark thoughts.

" _I think about an hour or so. I tried waking you but you were well and truly out for the count."_ Len chuckled softly. _"Decided just to leave you alone until you woke yourself up."_

" _Uh-huh. So you're trying to tell me that you didn't try to escape?"_ Mick said with a laugh that didn't quite managed to hide the bitter hint of accusation to his tone.

" _Of course I didn't. I wouldn't leave you behind Mick. Hell, I couldn't even if I wanted too. We're a team, remember?"_ Len said with a rawness to his voice that made Mick feel a little more inclined to actually believe him.

" _That and yer ankles busted, right? Not even the mighty Captain Cold could hope to hobble out of here on a busted limb and live to tell the tale."_ Mick snickered.

" _That too. I'm pretty resourceful, but not that resourceful. Even a man such as I has his limits Micky. You know as well as I do that nobody's perfect. Oh, that and the electronic lock on the door too. Not even the strongest bobby pin could hope to break that thing."_ Len confirmed with a hearty chuckle as he nodded towards the door. Mick couldn't help but laugh too.

Finally forcing himself up off the floor and into a kneeling position, Mick finally turned himself around to face his partner and couldn't help but wince at the sight of him. Len's left eye was completely black and swollen to the point that he couldn't even open it. His ankle was twisted in such a way that it just had to be broken. His beloved parka was ripped in a few placed here and there and was absolutely caked in mud and to top it all off he had a deep red cut running along the side of his head that would definitely need stitches.

Judging from the look Len gave him in return, Mick assumed that he didn't look much better.

" _You know I wouldn't leave you behind, right?"_ Len asked as he directed his one good eye up to meet Mick's.

" _Huh? You say somethin'?"_ Mick said, giving Len the opportunity to back out of the conversation he seemed to be throwing himself in to. Lenny had never been particularly comfortable bearing his soul, so as much as it pained him to do so Mick decided to grant the other man the wiggle room he needed to weasel out of whatever he was about to say, should he want to of course. If nothing else, Mick liked to believe that he truly was a considerate, reasonable soul behind his wildly aggressive front.

" _I said you know that I wouldn't leave you behind right?"_ Len repeated, sounding a little more sure of himself the second time around. _"All joking aside, I'd really hate for you to think that I could just get up and leave without you."_

" _'Course I do Lenny. 'Course I do."_ Mick answered with an unmistakable uncertainty to his voice that Len picked up on immediately. God damn that perception of his.

" _Do you really though? To say that we've been through a lot together would be an understatement Mick and... well... you mea-... I ju- I just wouldn't do that to you."_ Len said, his words as delicate as they were deliberate. Trust Len to play his cards close to his chest even under intense pressure. If nothing else, Len's determination to that front was admirable.

" _Len, trust me when I say I know okay? I know."_ Mick said with a half smirk, one which seemed to do the trick at convincing Len he was being truthful if the way Len's body seemed to visibly drain of all tension after hearing it was any indication.

" _Good. Good."_ Len said. " _I'm uh... I'm glad to hear it."_

" _Yep."_ Mick replied shortly.

" _Yep."_ Len mimicked with a small nod.

From that point on the pair's tiny cell was filled with an undeniably awkward silence. Len seemed to be using the sudden verbal cease-fire to listen in to whatever was going on outside their little cell, while Mick was still more concerned with the borderline unbearable pain ripping up his side. He was well aware that the pain was going to linger there for a good few weeks and Mick was not looking forward to dealing with that in the slightest.

" _What're you thinking?"_ Mick eventually muttered through a silent wince.

" _I'm not sure. From what I can hear this place is crawling with Vandal's guards. I've counted three separate squadrons of... four guards marching around out there."_ Len said.

" _Three squads of four? Jesus Lenny, how'd you figure that one out."_ Mick asked. _"Do I even want to know?"_

" _Each time a team passes I'm able to pick up on four sets of footsteps. One of the teams has a member who has a slight limp, probably the guy you tackled when we were captured. Another team seems to have a guard who's carrying keys or something like that. Bar those two teams there is at least one other team that seems mostly unremarkable, comparatively anyway."_ Len shrugged as he looked back towards Mick _. "So by my calculations, that's at least twelve guards outside or in the immediate area."_

" _So what you're saying is we're fucked, right?"_ Mick said.

" _Completely."_ Len confirmed. _"Unless you want to carry me out of here bridal style we're not going anywhere soon. Might as well make yourself comfortable."_

" _What is it with you and making me carry you?"_ Mick cackled obnoxiously while Len could only smirk and shrug his shoulders.

" _Usually I only let you carry me to the bedroom, but given the circumstances I'd be more than willing to make an exception."_ Len said. _"Needs be and all that. My fragile masculinity would just have to make do. Besides, you seem to like carrying people if memory serves me well. Since we signed up for this suicide mission you seem to have become the designated 'carry the unconscious member back to the ship' guy."_

" _Well look at you being all reasonable. What happened to the hard-headed Leonard Snart that I know and love? The 'Waverider' has changed you man."_ Mick said dramatically as he pressed the back of his hand to his forehead and held the other to his chest while dipped backwards in apparent horror.

" _Afraid to say that the 'Leonard Snart' you knew died a long time ago. Being forced on an intergalactic adventure through time and space changes a guy Mick, what can I say."_ Len cooed as he too feigned mild horror, even if he ruined it just seconds later when he chuckled away to himself at their tragically over-acted display.

" _Shame, he had a sweet ass."_ Mick said.

" _Y'know I heard that too? Tragic really."_ Len said.

" _Terrible. Truly terrible. Why is it always the good asses that leave us so unexpectedly?"_ Mick said with a truly sinful smirk on his face.

Before the pairs truly embarrassing attempt at flirting could go any further, a wicked explosion somewhere not too far outside their cell snapped the pairs attention off of each other and on to the door in and out of their seemingly impenetrable prison. Not long after, the screams and cries of what they assumed were Savages guards and the unmistakable sound of gunfire filled the air and drowned out everything else around them. A few seconds later, the power to the entire facility cut off all at once and the entire room was plunged into darkness.

What the hell was going on?

Before long the facilities emergency lighting turned on and illuminated the fact that the door in and out of the pairs cell had been unlocked. God bless megalomaniacs and their strange obsession with having the most up-to-date technology. When would these rubes learn that a simple lock trumped an electronic one any day of the week?

" _Sounds to me like the cavalry has arrived. About time too."_ Len muttered as gripped onto the bars of the cell and begun carefully trying to lift himself up off the floor and back onto his feet.

" _And what a shame that is. I was seriously considering taking you up on yer generous offer to let me carry your sad ass out of here like a real hero."_ Mick taunted as he zipped over to Len's side and wrapped his large arm around the others waist before he carefully begun to help him up off of the floor. Mick didn't know if he'd be able to support Len much thanks to the pain in his side, but if enduring a little pain in his side meant that they'd have a better chance of getting out of there alive then Mick was more than willing to try.

" _Eh. You win some you lose some Micky. I've got a feeling if you get me out of here in one piece that you'll get a heroes rewards regardless though."_ Len hit back as he slipped his arm over Mick's shoulder and allowed himself to be propped up by the bulkier male.

" _Yeah? What kind of reward."_ Mick couldn't help but ask even if he already knew the answer.

" _One you'll like. Not shut up and lets get moving. We wouldn't want to keep the others waiting now would be?"_ Len said as he gestured forward towards the now open door to their freedom.

" _Indeed we would not boss. Indeed we would not."_ Mick said with a sneer as he tightened his grip around Lenny's waist and took off out of the cell as fast as his feet would carry them.


	2. Day Two: The Grogginess

Len woke up that morning to two rather unexpected things, the smell of pancakes and an empty bed. Len wasn't sure which one of those things was more concerning but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

Sliding his legs over the side of the bed and quickly pushing himself up into a sitting position, Len yawned loudly and rubbed his tired eyes tenderly. Len felt worse than he had in a very, very long time. He'd felt more or less the same before he'd went to bed the night before, but Len had just assumed that hitting the hay _(mixed with some strong medication of course)_ would help to rid him of any lingering effects of whatever this horrid sickness was.

Oh how wrong he was.

Len didn't have a migraine, a sore stomach or anything like that. Len just felt... groggy, for want of a better word. It was that sort of lethargic sickness that Len hated above everything else. A migraine he could handle, but exhaustion he could not. The fact that the medication didn't seem to be working wasn't exactly soothing his already strained nerves either. Why did everything in his life seem to keep going wrong? He was a good pers- well, he was a person at the very least and he didn't deserve this.

" _God, if you're listening, strike me down now."_ Len mumbled to himself as he lazily glanced towards the digital alarm clock sitting on the dresser next to his bed. The clock read 11:32am. Fucking hell, how long had he been asleep for? Len never usually allowed himself to sleep in this late. Shit shit shit.

Rising up out of the bed and slipping on what he just assumed was one of Mick's oversized tank-tops, Len slowly begun to trudge through the hallway and towards the source of the heavenly smell filling his apartment. Normally he'd have preferred to be a little more well dressed than how he was now, but truthfully he didn't feel like doing much of anything, never mind dressing to impress. The grogginess certainly wasn't ideal, neither was the fact that the med's didn't seem to be working, but then again with the smell of a well cooked home meal filling his nostrils and pulling him closer towards the kitchen like a deadly siren song, Len supposed that pancakes were as good a cure as any.

" _Mornin' handsome. Sleep well?"_ Mick asked as he watched Len step out of the hallway and into the kitchen. Mick was... quite a sight to behold. Dressed in nothing but his underwear and wearing a long chalk white apron with ' _KEEP CALM AND LIGHT MY FIRE'_ written across the front of it in a deep scarlet text, it was safe to say that Mick was intent on having a lazy day too.

" _A little too well actually. I feel like shit."_ Len answered honestly as he sat himself down at the table, all while keeping an eye on the bulky pyromaniac as he continued to attend to the pancakes.

" _Yeah I remembered you mumblin' something about feeling like shit before you drifted off last night so, I figured I'd just let you sleep for a little while longer than usual. Gave me some extra time to go and buy food, so whatever. You've got perfect timing though Lenny, brunch is just about ready."_ Mick said cheerfully as he flicked his wrist upwards and flipped the pancake over in the pan.

" _Pancakes eh? Nice choice. Any particular reason you've went full-on 'Delia Smith' this fine Sunday morning? Besides as a way of saying "I'm sorry for letting you sleep so late" of course."_ Len asked sardonically.

" _I dunno, I just felt like Pancakes is all."_ Mick answered with a shrug before he tipped the now ready pancake out of the pan and onto the large stack sitting next to him on the counter.

" _Huh... alrighty then."_ Len said. _"Wait.. is that bacon I smell?"_ _  
_ _"Indeed it is. Figured if I was making pancakes then I might as well go all out and make some bacon too."_ Mick answered as he carefully lifted the both the plates stacked with bacon and pancakes off of the counter and slowly begun to head over towards the table. _"I also bought some syrup too. Figured that'd appease yer legendary sweet tooth."_

" _You keep using the word 'bought' and I'm honestly not 100% sure you know what it means. Did you actually buy all this stuff, or...?"_ Len asked suspiciously while Mick only offered up a deep chuckle in response.

" _I stole it, obviously. What do you take me for, a law abiding citizen? I'm insulted Leonard."_ Mick taunted as he made his way back over towards the table, this time carrying two glasses, a carton of orange juice and the aforementioned syrup.

" _Ah-ha! There's the Micky I know and love. Stealing? On the Sabbath? If nothing else, at least you're consistently terrible Rory."_ Len teased as he let his eyes wandered over the delicious looking feast spread out before him. As he took in the view, Len couldn't help but blush as his stomach rumbled loudly. He must've been hungrier than he thought..

" _Could be worse, I could be consistently boring."_ Mick hit back without missing a beat before he placed a final item down on the table just above Len's hand, namely a little blue box of strong looking painkillers. _"You might want to consider taking some of those by the way. As endearing as I find your constant bitching, it is kind of killing the 'easy sunday morning' vibe I've been trying oh so hard to establish."_

" _Prick."_ Len said sharply while Mick made quick work of helping himself to the food placed on the table before him.

" _Yeah yeah. Take yer pills and eat up pretty boy. I didn't waste all that time cooking for you not to eat anything."_ Mick managed to force out from behind a mouthful of pancakes and syrup.

" _Fucking hell you sound just like my mother."_ Len grumbled as he threw the pills into his mouth and chased them down his throat with a big slug of the orange juice.

" _Huh. If I sound so much like yer mother then why were you calling me 'Daddy' just the other night?"_ Mick couldn't help but say with a grin to rival that of the Cheshire Cat's spread across his face while he watched Len force the pills down his throat.

" _For your sake I'm choosing to ignore that comment..."_ Len snarled like a dog before he opened his mouth wide and stuck his tongue out. _"But there. See? I've taken them. Y'happy?"_

" _Ecstatic. Now if you're quite finished being a drama queen, could you do me a favour and pass the bacon? Shit's getting cold."_

* * *

Much to Len's surprise, brunch had went much better than expected. The pair had sat together, ate their food and made idle chit-chat like a regular run-of-the-mill couple. It was odd, but not entirely unpleasant. When they were both quite finished they helped each other wash and put away the dishes before they both retreated to the living room to watch some television together. As far as Sunday mornings went, this was certainly shaping up to be one of the better ones.

" _Thanks for breakfast."_ Len mumbled weakly as he lay his head down on Mick's lap while Mick himself absent-mindedly flicked between channels.

" _Brunch"_ Mick corrected almost instantly.

" _Ugh, fuck off already."_ Len moaned pathetically as he hid his face in Mick's thigh.

" _Will do pretty boy."_ Mick said. _"Now shut up, my shows about to start."_

Usually if they were just lounging around the apartment Len tried to keep himself to himself and keep the P.D.A down to a minimum. It wasn't that he was ashamed of his and Mick's relationship, everyone already knew about them anyway, it was just that he wasn't the type of guy who liked to air his business out in the open for everyone to see. That said, the only people in the apartment at that time were himself and Mick, and he was feeling like death woke up, so letting his guard down just this once wouldn't kill him.

Well, at least Len hoped it wouldn't anyway.

" _You feeling any better? You certainly don't look any better."_ Mick said while tenderly rubbing Len's head in a slow circular motion. Len couldn't help but sigh contently as the other male's warm, calloused hands messaged his scalp. It was strangely comforting.

" _Thanks for that. And no, you're right. I'm feeling worse actually."_ Len admitted. _"As good as those pancakes were, and they were good by the way, they haven't done much to help. I slept for hours yet I still feel absolutely exhausted..."_

" _Well you might as well take a nap then. Lisa's out with that Ramon kid for the day, so we've got the place to ourselves for a while."_ Mick said softly while he continued to rub Len's head tenderly. _"And don't worry, if someone comes over I'll be sure to make myself scarce. Wouldn't want yer sterling reputation to be ruined now would we?"_

" _Fuck off."_ Len mumbled quietly as he slowly allowed his eyes to close over.

" _Will do. Now go to sleep you crouchy asshole."_ Mick whispered before he bent forward and lightly kissed Len's forehead.

Before long the warmth radiating off of Mick combined with the softness of the comfortable couch quickly had Len drifting away from the waking world and into a deep slumber. To say that today had been one for the history books would be an understatement. He'd woken up feeling so unwell it was unreal but instead of laying around and feeling sorry for himself he had been treated to a home-cooked breakfast, a decent conversation, and to top it all off he was now snuggled up on the couch with his long-term partner like an actual, domestic couple.

Stranger things had happened that was for sure, but still. This was... nice.

Just as Len finally begun to surrender himself completely to sleep's sweet embrace, a final thought crossed his mind. The career criminal wasn't really sure if how today played out could truly be classed as living life like a proper domestic couple, but regardless of the technicalities, Len could safely say that he could happily used to this.


	3. Day Three: Can't Choose The Spark

Leo liked to consider himself a rather open-minded individual. He gave everyone and everything a fair chance to make a good first impression and tried his very best not to hold any prejudices or judge anyone unfairly. For the most part, Leo was proud to say that he was successful in this endeavour. However, there were two things on this planet that Leo just couldn't stand no matter how hard he tried.

Those two things were meta-humans and fire.

" _C'mon Lisa, stay with me!"_ Leo ground out tensely as he continued to heave both himself and his unconscious sister through the fiery hallways of the quickly collapsing City Hall and towards the nearest exit. The fact that Leo couldn't see more than a few feet in front of him thanks to the thick plume of dark grey smoke lining the air only made things that much more difficult, but when it came to his sister's safety Leo wasn't going to give up on her without one hell of a fight.

Over the past week, Lisa's wildly aggressive campaign to bring the monster known as 'Zoom' to justice had taken a sharp turn for the worst after the infamous speed-demon had announced to the entire world that he would take it upon himself to deal with Mayor Snart personally. That of course meant that Zoom had assigned the task to his two deadliest minions, namely the terrifying Deathstorm and his beloved beau Killer Frost. Their mission was simple, make an example of Lisa for daring to speak out against his reign of terror and cause as much collateral damage as they possible could in the process.

Well, so much for dealing with it personally.

Over the course of mere minutes, the quiet and respectful aura that naturally seemed to fill the grand City Hall had been shattered by both a hail of freezing ice and a blaze of scorching fire. Like everything that Zoom and his band of merry men did, the attack was as sudden as it was brutal. The two meta-human thugs had burst into the building and begun to quickly tear their way through Lisa's security team like they were nothing more than pathetic ants beneath their their feet, it didn't even seem like the two broke a sweat. If it weren't so god damn terrifying, Leo would probably consider the pairs raw display of sheer power impressive.

Before too much damage could be done, the meta's violent rampage was brought to what seemed like a standstill as Central City's one and only Crimson Comet finally arrived on the scene and started the seemingly insurmountable task of dealing with the two super-criminals. Considering the blonde haired male was so renowned for his earth-shattering speed, the Flash had certainly taken his sweet time getting to them in the first place.

As much as he'd like to, Leo honestly couldn't complain about the Flash too much though. Now that the Speedster had finally arrived it gave him a much needed opportunity to get Lisa up and out of there without too much interruption, an opportunity which Leo instantly seized with both hands. Leo would have to send the man a fruit basket when all this was said and done, if the Speedster survived of course.

Having found herself knocked unconscious after a piece of speeding debris collided with her head during the initial attack, Lisa was completely indisposed to say the very least. Leo had to get her out of the building and to safety as fast as he could. That notion right there is what lead to where he currently found himself, namely huffing his sisters surprisingly heavy frame through the burning inferno once known to them as the hallway. God damn Leo would need to start hitting the gym, this was awfully exhausting.

Leo knew this place like the back of his hand, so getting both himself and Lisa through the building without too much hassle wasn't really all that much a problem. Before long he had successfully managed to slip past the duelling meta's and out in to the mostly untouched lobby without a single scratch to show for it. How fortuitous that the Flash had broken the front doors completely off their hinges upon his arrival. You could never say that subtlety was the Flash's forte, but at the very least the Crimson Comet was wonderfully efficient when he needed to be.

Better make that two fruit basket then.

Tightening his grip around Lisa's body as he huffed her down the final few steps outside City Hall, Leo couldn't help but curse silently under his breath as he gently lay his sister down on to the soft grass just to the right of the steep stairs.

" _Lisa? C'mon Lisa, please wake up. Please."_ Leo whispered tenderly as he delicately brushed Lisa's long blonde hair out of her still closed eyes. The wound on her head from where the debris hit her was still bleeding quite a bit, albeit at a much slower rate than it had been before. It wasn't really anything to celebrate about just yet, but it was something at the very least. _"This isn't funny anymore Lisa. I need you to wake up. Please wake up."_

As Leo felt himself slowly sinking into a frenzied panic, a shrill scream from somewhere inside the still burning City Hall snapped the man's attention off of his unconscious sister laying on the grass below and back up the large foreboding steps into the nightmarish hellscape looming insidiously above.

Oh shit, was someone was still trapped inside the building?

Leo had a dilemma on his hands. Looking to his left and seeing a quickly approaching slew of Ambulances and Fire Engines charging towards the scene, Leo took one last hesitant look at his sister before he took off racing up the stairs and back towards the entrance to the building. Lisa was breathing and emergency services were less than a minute away, so the choice he had to make was clear. As uncomfortable as leaving Lisa alone for even a millisecond made him feel, if someone were to die inside that building and Leo didn't at least try and save them then he'd never be able to forgive himself.

Stopping at the peak of the stairs and glancing back down towards where his beloved sister lay, Leo heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he watch some E.M.T's carefully placing Lisa down on a flatbed before rushing her back towards one of the ambulances now parked up on the grass. Well, at least Lisa was safe. Now to focus on the task at hand.

Literally forcing himself to turn back around and towards the source of the terrified screeching, Leo felt an odd rush of adrenaline course through his veins as leapt through the shattered doorway and into the lobby... only to find himself knocked unconscious almost immediately as a horrendously large piece of smoking debris suddenly dislodged itself from the ceiling above and came crashing down hard on to Leo like a ton of bricks.

* * *

When Leo next found himself back in the waking world he was immediately taken back by his strange new surroundings. By the looks of things he seemed to be laying in a flat, uncomfortable bed in what he just naturally assumed was a Hospital. The boring white walls, sandpaper bedsheets, smell of tasteless microwaved meals and the constantly beeping machinery rumbling away in the background only helped to solidify that theory.

Before Leo could begin to question just why he was in the hospital in the first place, he noticed what seemed to be a milky white blister rearing its ugly head out from behind a line of crème coloured bandages wrapped tightly around his forearm.

Oh, right. That'll be why. So much for being the mighty hero to save the day then. Leo should've just left all that nasty business to the plucky speedster.

Sighing to himself as he begun to push himself up so he would sitting with his back to the headboard, Leo couldn't help but howl in pure agony as an unbearably sharp pain shot up his right leg. It didn't long for Leo to piece together that had broken his leg at some point during his not-so-marvelous misadventures in the collapsing City Hall. Oh the joys of almost being crushed alive under a collapsing roof. Could things possibly get any worse?

" _So you're finally awake, huh? Good. Who knew you were such a deep sleeper?"_ Suddenly said a confident and gravely voice from the corner of the room that just about scared the living shit out of Leo. Jesus wept, he must have been really out of it if he hadn't managed to notice that he wasn't the only one in the room

Doing his best to roll over and face the stranger without putting too much strain on his still absolutely aching leg, Leo narrowed his eyes and did his best to identify just who it was that was speaking to him, but without his glasses there just wasn't much of a point.

" _As adorable as the squinting is, yer glasses are sitting on the little table next to you. I will warn you though, the left lens is a little... well, its fucked."_

Carefully adjusting his body so he could finally reach the desired position of having his back pressed down against the plastic headboard, Leo forced out an exhausted sigh as he gingerly lifted his glasses up off the table and slipped them back onto his face. Blinking feverishly as his eyes quickly begun to re-adjust themselves to the thick lenses, Leo stared ahead of himself and towards the bulky figure slowing beginning to take shape just across the room from him.

Leo would admit, it took everything he had in him not to smirk like a damn teenager at the sight of the man before him. God damn he was one good looking specimen.

Sitting hunched forward in his seat with an unlit cigarette dangling dangerously from between his barely parted lips was a broad, well built man that oozed confidence. Wearing a pair of worn down black jeans and a dark grey sweatshirt adorned with the C.C.F.D logo in the centre of it, the man stared ahead of himself and towards Leo with the slightest hint of a truly sinful grin making itself at home on his face. The man's hair and been sheared in tight and he was currently sporting some pretty impressive Five O'Clock shadow that did the job at highlighting his oddly refined features oh so well.

Oh yeah, it was safe to say that this guy was pretty damn hot.

Leo couldn't help gulp at the sight of the other man and he hated himself for it. Leo had never been particularly good at talking to men and he had the feeling that this little exchange was about to go the same way that all his other conversations with attractive men did, namely 'horrendously badly'. Ah crap, was he sweating? He felt like he was sweating. Leo really hoped that the cocky smirk the handsome stranger pulled just a few short moment later wasn't in any way related to how he was behaving like a love-sick teenager. Jesus, get it together already Leo!

" _Thanks."_ Leo eventually had the peace of mind to say, wincing silently to himself as he felt his throat clamp up at the sudden effort. Gotta love smoke's effect on the lungs eh?

" _Don't mention it Pretty Boy."_ The stranger said with a cocky wink.

" _Leo"_ Leo forced out through gritted teeth. God damn the pain in his throat was unbelievable.

" _What's that?"_ The stranger asked.

" _My name is Leo. Leo Snart. Use it please."_ Leo said, not really caring if he sounded shorter than originally intended.

" _Oh I know what your name is. You just happen to look more like a 'Pretty Boy' than a 'Leo' to me, that's all."_ The other man said with enough confidence and swagger to his voice to sell the remark without seeming like a arrogant pig. It was as impressive as it was annoying.

Rolling his eyes as he folded his arms over his chest, Leo turned his eyes away from the smirking stranger sat in the corner and down towards the blotchy patches of stark white littered around his arm disapprovingly. That was going to leave a mark.

" _I'm Mick by the way. Mick Rory. Fire Chief of the C.C.F.D."_ The man, Mick, offered up with a more genuine smile than he'd been sporting for their entire brief conversation.

" _Mick huh? Suits you."_ Leo managed to say.

" _Thanks, I guess."_ Mick said.

" _What happened back at City Hall? Is my sister okay? Did someone manage to rescue the other person who was trapped?"_ Leo ground out painfully as rubbed his throat with his one good hand. No amount of morphine was going to take care of this pain, that was for sure.

" _The May- your sister is fine. She's actually up and about already. She had a meeting with the Flash this morning about finally putting an end to that Zoom freak once and for all. If nothing else, she's a pretty resilient little lady."_ Mick said fondly. _"As for the other person, I managed to rescue the both of you before the rest of the building collapsed in on itself like a dying star. Aren't I just the greatest?"_

" _You're something alright. Not sure about the greatest, but... you're certainly something."_ Leo said softly as he continued to stare into the other man's deep brown eyes.

" _Something good?"_ Mick asked with what sounded like a hopeful tone.

" _I uh, haven't decided yet."_ Leo answered truthfully, earning himself yet another chuckle from the bulkier man sitting across the room from him.

" _Fair enough._ " Mick simply said in return.

" _So, how are you feeling? Doc's said you took quite the bump to the head in the collapse."_ Mick asked.

" _Eh. My throat hurts a lot worse than my head and leg do actually. Who knew that breathing in tons of smoke could be so bad for you?"_ Leo said with a self-depreciating chuckle.

" _Those fire-safety videos you're made to watch at School usually cover that, but who gives a shit about fire safety right?"_ Mick taunted.

" _I know right? I mean, who's ever been hurt by fire rig- oh, wait. Scratch that, those videos are the bomb."_ Leo wheezed out with a deep and painful sounding laugh.

" _Did you really just say 'The Bomb'? Oh lord, that bump to the head must've done more damage to you than the Doc's thought it did."_ Mick roared while cackling away to himself like a hyena.

" _Afraid not, I'm just a total loser is all."_ Leo said. _"See, I've got the ugly glasses and lopsided grin to prove it."_

" _Well I for one happen to like yer grin and yer glasses Pretty Boy. I don't think you could possibly make anything look ugly."_ Mick said with more than the slightest hint of hesitation to his voice while on the bed, Leo could only lightly blush.

" _I uh... thank you."_ Len eventually answered in something only just louder than a whisper.

" _Don't mention it."_ Mick said back, grinning away to himself like the cat that got the crème at the sight of the other male blushing at his remark. Hook line and sinker.

" _Anyway, now that I see yer up and mostly lucid, I guess I better be off. I may be the boss, but if the rest of the guys find out I've been slacking off for even a minute then they'll have my nuts on a platter."_ Mick said as he rose up out of his seat and slowly begun to make his way over towards the foot of Leo's bed.

" _Ah. Can't be having that now can we?"_ Leo smirked as he watched the other man curiously.

" _Indeed we can't. Men and woman across Central City would mourn the loss of my beloved wedding tackle. It would be a complete disaster."_ Mick purred confidently while Leo couldn't help but roll his eyes.

" _Oh I bet."_ Leo huffed out, finding it harder and harder to talk the longer this conversation went on for. God damn that smoke.

" _You don't sound so sure Mr. Snart. Sounds to me like I might need to take you out one night and give you a sample of the goods. Y'know, show you what you've been missing out on and all that."_ Mick said with a far too casual wink as he turned himself around and quickly slipped on out of the compact little room and back into the hallway. _"Anyway, I'll leave y'to it. Try not too have too much fun without me. See ya around Pretty boy."_

" _S-see ya."_ Was all that Leo managed to offer up in response. No witty banter. No flirty comment. No giving over his number. Nothing. God, Leo was pathetic.

Watching while Mick finally got up out of the chair and made his way back in to the real world, Leo couldn't help but sigh aloud to himself as he was left sitting all alone in the now strangely quiet hospital room with only his terribly boring thoughts to keep him company.

As annoying as that Mick guy was, Leo couldn't help but feel a little disappointed now that he had been left alone once again. Sure his mother and sister would more than likely be in to see him soon enough, but something about the handsome Fire Chief had got Leo's heart and mind racing like they hadn't done in what seemed like years.

Dear lord, what was it with Leo and constantly finding himself attracted to over-confident dickbags?

Absent-mindedly running his fingers along the itchy bandages wrapped around his badly burned arm, Leo stared through the window into the sun-drenched City outside and wondered how much trouble he would get in if he were to start a small fire when he was finally discharged from this mundane little hospital. Probably a lot of trouble if he were being completely honest with himself, but if starting a fire gave him the chance to see a certain Fire Chief once again then Leo wasn't sure he really cared about the consequences.

Oh lord. This was going to end badly wasn't it?


	4. Day Four: Autassassinophilia (NSFW)

Mick Rory had met Leonard Snart for the very first time around a month or so ago. Mick was twenty-five and Len was twenty-two and the both of them were quite proud to profess that they considered themselves to be professional career criminals. Not quite the doctors or teachers their mothers had hoped and prayed for them to become, but a job was still a job... Even if said job was almost certainly illegal.

Like all good morally-grey men in their mid-twenties, the pair had met when they had both been hired by the city's biggest crime family to become the local Don's newest hired muscle. Essentially the pair were a fat, sleazy old man's glorified babysitters who instead of changing diapers would be smashing skulls, but there was definitely some crossover somewhere between the two.

Mick and Len got on pretty well as far as 'work friends' were concerned. Sure they bickered, but who didn't nowadays? Len was quiet and seemed a little too reserved at times for Mick's liking, but somehow Mick did seem to be wearing down the once impenetrable barriers the younger man had propped up and had slowly but surely begun to learn lots of little things about his new partner.

For example, Len was bi-racial. Len loved both classic rock and modern pop music just a little too much for it to be considered just a passing interest like he had insisted. Len hated Chinese food with a passion but loved Mexican food. Len had a tattoo of his mothers name along his left bicep with his sisters name written just below it. Mick had noted that Len's fathers name was nowhere to be seen but had elected not to ask why. If Len's upbringing was anything like Mick's had been, then there was probably a good reason as to why his fathers name had been omitted.

Bar all of that mundane shit, Mick had also learned that Len had some... rather interesting tastes, to put it mildly. Perhaps the most noteworthy detail Mick had come to learn over time was that Len, whether or not he wanted to admit it, had Autassassinophilia.

In layman's terms, Len got one hell of a kick out of of being in extreme danger that could potentially threaten his life.

Mick had first stumbled across that delicious little titbit when one evening while walking back to their respective apartments after a long day's work they had been held up by a couple of junkies hoping to score a few bucks from who they just assumed were a couple of losers walking home in a rough area well past their bed times.

It should go without saying that the pair took down the junkies without even breaking a sweat, but the way Len had behaved afterwards when they were in the clear had caught Mick's attention. Len's pupils were blown out so wide it almost entirely covered any colour in his eyes, his hands were shaking ever so slightly and the man's movements became a little bit more fluid than they usually were, a stark contract to the strict control Len seemed to try and carry himself under at almost all times. He had almost seemed... turned on after the encounter, if that were even possible.

Mick wasn't one to kink-shame, hell most people he knew would argue that Mick's obsession with fire was bordering on weirdly sexual, but something about Len and the way his eyes glinted as that junkie lunged at him with his dull rusty blade had stuck with Mick. He couldn't get the image out of his head no matter how had he had tried.

It wasn't until a week or so later that Mick's little theory was confirmed.

It had all started one night when Len and Mick had been sent across town to the 'Lucky Pawn' to collect some well overdue 'protection money' from the store's owner. The pair had rolled up to the shop and walked in with a cocky swagger to their steps as they immediately approached the owner and politely requested (read as: demanded) their bosses money. What followed was a vicious bust-up that had left everyone working in the pawn shop unconscious and Len with a grazed shoulder after one of the owners henchmen had managed to fire a single shot from his pistol before Mick smashed an antique vase over his head. Lucky for Len the bullet had missed anything important and had just left what was more than likely going to be a very painful welt on his shoulder. How little did Mick know that Len almost getting shot was also going to prove lucky for him too.

Bursting out the back door of the pawn shop and into the darkened alleyway behind the store, Len and Mick couldn't help but cackle maniacally as they tore off down the abandoned alleyway and away from the quickly approaching sirens seemingly drawing nearer and nearer to the store.

The pair ran for what felt like an eternity through the seemingly empty backstreets of the city before they finally came to a sudden halt on the path they'd walked along every evening together for the past month or so. Slipping off of the main street and into yet another alley, the pair looked towards each other with wide grins on their faces as they desperately tried to catch their breath.

It was at that point that Mick noticed that Len was getting that look on his face once again. Pupils blown? Check. Hands shaking? Check. The slightest hint of sweat making itself apparent on his defined brow? Check. Oh yeah, Len definitely liked a little bit of extreme danger in his life every now and then, that much was for sure.

Mick couldn't help but grin away to himself giddily at the sight of his clearly excited partner. Lenny's intoxicating enthusiasm was infectious to say the very least and even though Mick knew that it wasn't possible, he almost felt as though he were getting one hell of a contact high just standing near the other male.

 _"You alright buddy? Yer shaking like a leaf."_ Mick asked as he gentled rapped his fist off of Len's one good shoulder.

" _I'm f-fine. Just... a little shaken is all."_ Len replied hesitantly as he gawked at Mick with wide eyes and a strange yet somehow familiar looking smirk slowly beginning to make itself visible on his sharp features.

" _That guard almost blew yer fuckin' brains out Lenny, so that's understandable. Nothing quite like that rush afterwards though right? S'better than any drugs I've ever tried anyway."_ Mick huffed out as he felt himself being drawn in closer towards the completely mystifying Len, who was still looking up into Mick's eyes with the shimmer in his own pale blue eyes now radiating hypnotically under the moons bright yellow glow.

" _Yeah, y-you can say that again."_ Len whispered almost to himself as he continued to start up into Mick's brown eyes almost contemplatively. Mick couldn't help but force down a dry gulp at the sight. Was it suddenly getting stuffy in this freezing cold alley, or was it just him?

Feeling the younger males eyes slowly starting to bore their way into his very soul caused Mick's mouth to suddenly feel very very dry. Within an instant a foreign, positively electrifying tension had sprung up between the two criminals. Mick's skin felt like it was about to burst into flames as both himself and Lenny started to inch their way closer and closer towards one another almost like they were being forced into it by some unseen power.

Destiny seemed to be working against him because no matter how hard Mick tried to focus his mind on literally anything else, all the budding pyromaniac could think about at that exact moment in time was Len's beautifully pink lips and where exactly he wanted them, scratch that, NEEDED THEM on his body.

Almost as if he were somehow reading his mind, Len's next move took Mick completely by surprise while also being totally expected. Go figure.

Grabbing Mick by the shoulders and pushing him backward until he felt his back being forced down hard against the solid brick wall behind him, Len stood up on his toes and feverishly begun to lay kiss after kiss onto Mick's exposed neck, all while he desperately start to palm Mick's cock through his jet black jeans. Stuck against the wall while the smaller man pressed up against him, Mick closed his eyes over and moaned desperately as he simply allowed the younger male to do whatever the hell he wanted with him. This certainly wasn't the way Mick had imagined his evening going, but he wasn't going to start complaining about it any time soon.

Not even seconds after Mick began to feel his prick hardening under the constant heavy attention being lavished on to it from Len's icy cool touch, the taller of the pair couldn't help but grunt in disappointment as Len suddenly stopped kissing his neck... before he noticed that Len had sunk down on to his knees.

" _Oh fuck Len..."_ Mick huffed out as he watched the other man making quick work of unbuckling his belt.

" _That's the plan actually."_ Len snickered devilishly as he reached forward with both hands and tugged both Mick's pants and underwear down to around his knees.

" _I uh, don't have a rubber."_ Mick admitted with a muffled groan, internally kicking himself for potentially passing up the chance to break his new partner. God damn those morals of his..

" _Don't worry, I'll find a way to make it work."_ Len said with a throaty groan as he held Mick's shaft in his hand before slowly beginning to work on it with his fist. _"You clean?"_

" _Yeah, 'course I am. Are you?"_ Mick managed to say between breathless gasps.

" _Of course."_ Len said with a low, almost inaudible laugh.

" _Good becau- Oh fuuuck."_ Mick moaned just a little too loudly as Len suddenly upped his pace without warning.

The conditions of the evening weren't exactly ideal, but who was Mick to turn away a free handy? Especially one that felt that fucking nice. Just when it seemed like things couldn't get any better, Len sunk his hand down to meet Mick's pelvis and used it to hold his dick in place before he gently begun to suck on Mick's cock like his life depended on it.

Fuck.

Although Mick knew fine well that he were something close to bisexual, his interest in men had always been somewhat fleeting. Nine out of Ten times he'd take a woman home from the bar over a man, but when it came to where Len and that wicked mouth of his were, Mick was more than willing to mix things up a bit.

Smirking around Mick's cock as he heard the other man's low mewls continuing to fill the cool night air, Len slowed himself down for just a moment as he reached down his own body with his free hand and quickly set his own hard-on free from the suffocating tightness of his jeans. With a low and satisfied sounding growl, Len spat into his hand before he started jerking himself off slowly, his hand quickly finding the rhythm so it were almost in perfect sync with his head bobbing up and down over Mick cock.

Placing one hand on Len's head while he used the other to lift his shirt further up his torso, Mick continued to groan like no one was listening while Len continued to work him over with his mouth. In all honesty Mick knew that he were being far too loud right now, but he hadn't been sucked off like this in what felt like forever so if he was being a bit too noisy then he wasn't in the least bit concerned about it.

 _"Oh fuck Len, your mouth... Jesus fucking Christ"_ Mick managed to say between gasps, now shallowly thrusting his cock in and out of the ridiculous warm, velvety feel of Len's welcoming mouth. Below him, Len merely sneered and upped his pace, sliding his lips up and down Mick's length and swirling his tongue around the tip with a desperateness to his movements that was just driving Mick absolutely wild.

Suffice to say, the way Len was acting like this was an actual paid job saw to it that Mick wouldn't be lasting too much longer. Before long Mick felt a familiar heat pooling up in the pit of his stomach and his cock give the odd twitch in appreciation. He was close.

" _Len, you need t-to move. I'm g-gonna cum."_ Mick said between gasps as he, begrudgingly, used the hand placed atop Len's head to try and push the other man off of him before it was too late. Much to Mick's surprise though Len instead removed his hand from around his own cock and swatted Mick's away, all while continuing to take Mick deeper into his mouth.

Oh fuck.

Taking Len's actions as a clear sign that what ever happened next happened, Mick let his head drop back against the solid wall behind him as he felt himself speeding towards his much needed release. Throwing caution to the wind, Mick placed his hand back onto Len's head and tightened his grip on the short strands of hair to be found there as he upped the pace of his thrusts into the truly sinful wetness of Len's mouth.

"Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh f-f-fuck!"

Without any further warning, Mick's mouth dropped open and he roared almost painfully as he pumped his hips forward one final time before he finally came into Len's mouth. Still on his knees, Len leaned backward and sucked tenderly on Mick's head as he swallowed each and every single drop without even the slightest hint of hesitation. At almost exactly the same time, Len gasped around Mick's cock as he too came all over his hand with one final frantic pump of his fist.

Slowly sliding his lips off of Mick's cock with a pop, Len fell backwards and onto his ass while Mick remained frozen on the spot, his mouth still agape and his eyes clamped tightly shut.

" _Well... that was different."_ Len said softly as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

" _Y'can say that again. Fucking hell Lenny."_ Mick said between heavy pants. _"Can't say I was expecting that."_

" _Wasn't that bad was it? You certainly seemed like you were enjoying it."_ Len said.

" _It was... passable. Who knew there was more to that pretty mouth of yours outside of the endless quips and snarky insults."_ Mick said with a cocky smirk as he pulled both his underwear and pants back up to around his hips.

" _Yeah yeah, wise guy. You can talk as much shit as you want, but I distinctly remember you saying something along the lines of 'Fuck Len' not too long ago...""_ Len said as he licked his lips.

" _I did say that didn't I?"_ Mick said.

" _You did."_ Len confirmed.

" _So... how close if your apartment then?"_ Mick asked as he continued to hold eye contact with the other man still sitting on the cold wet ground below.

" _About a two minute walk away from here, if we hurry that is."_

" _Hmm. I think I can try and keep it in my pants until we make it to an actual bed."_ Mick couldn't help but laugh as he reached his hand out towards the still stationary Len. _"Lead the way?"_

* * *

With one final snap of his hips, Mick roared like a wounded animals as he buried himself as deep into Lenny as he possibly could before he emptied himself into his lover. At almost exactly the same time, Len's head collapsed backwards onto the pillow as he too came all over his own stomach with a low drawn out groan.

Thrusting shallowly a few times afterwards almost out of instinct, Mick leaned forward and placed a single kiss to Len's sweaty brow before he delicately pulled out of the other male and rolled over and onto his side. If it wasn't for the fact that this was the fourth time he'd cum in the space of a few short hours, the sinful little mewl that escaped Len's lips as Mick withdrew himself from the other's body would have gotten him hard again in an instant.

Reaching over to the bedside table and grabbing both a cigarette and his trusty lighter, Mick placed the slender stick between his lips and managed to light it too in one smooth motion. Sucking in a deep inhale, Mick let the fumes rest in his lungs for a few moments before he exhaled with a satisfied groan.

" _I don't know about you, but I am beat."_ Len mumbled softly as he shifted across the bed and lay his head down on Mick's chest.

" _You can say that again. Don't think I'll be doing much of anything tomorrow, except for you of course."_ Mick said while Len could only smirk.

" _I like the sound of that._ " Len said as he lightly placed a kiss onto the dark hair spread evenly across Mick's broad chest.

" _Mhmm."_ Mick hummed appreciatively. _"We should probably get cleaned up before we fall asleep or else we're going to wake up a sticky mess."_

" _We should shouldn't we?"_ Len said as he nuzzled Mick's chest, clearly making himself comfortable.

" _Definitely. Got a feeling we're not going to though, right?"_ Mick asked as he glanced down towards his exhausted lover.

" _Nope. Too tired to move. Plus, we could always just shower together in the morning. That way we can help each other scrub those... hard to reach places."_ Len said with a slight slur to his words. Clearly Len was only a few short seconds away from passing out completely. Mick couldn't blame him though, the fact that Mick was still awake was nothing short of a miracle.

" _Well, its safe to say that you've sold me on that idea."_ Mick muttered to himself before he took yet another long draw of his dwindling cigarette. _"God damn Lenny, the things you do to me... fucking hell."_

Between the time it took him for him to inhale and then exhale, soft snoring could be heard coming from the now clearly fast asleep Lenny still snuggled up on Mick's chest. As he soaked in the sight of his dozing lover, Mick felt a strange, unfamiliar feeling twist around inside his gut like a knife. This man sleeping on his chest was going to be the death of him, and Mick honestly couldn't care any less.

Flicking the cigarette from between his fingers and into the ashtray sitting on the dresser, Mick let his head flop down against the almost unimaginably soft pillow laying behind him as he wrapped his arms around the still fast asleep Lenny. Mick didn't have the slightest clue what exactly was going to happen tomorrow morning when the pair of them woke up with their heads clear and only their potential regret to show for that nights events, but for now Mick was more than happy to just lay in the afterglow of their strange little night of debauchery and enjoy it for what it was worth.

For the first time in a long time, Mick felt happy.


	5. Day Five: Shattered Memories

A hail of gunfire.

" _JESUS CHRIST LENNY! KEEP YER EYES ON THE FUCKIN' ROAD!"_

The smell of warm blood.

" _We need to get out of here Len! Are you listening? We have to go! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!"_

The feeling of icy snow landing delicately on his cheek.

" _WHAT DID YOU DO LEN?! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!"_

The sound of shattering glass.

" _Zoom."_

* * *

Len had lost Mick.

How the hell could he have lost Mick? They had only just managed to finally find one other and now they'd somehow managed to lose each other again? What the hell was happening in this town?!

Not even ten minutes ago, Len had, against his better judgement of course, decided to let Mick take the lead as they begun searching through the abandoned remains of what once looked to be shopping centre for any sign of Lisa. Definitely not their brightest idea, but finding themselves stuck in this town wasn't exactly a well played move either so how much worse could things possibly get by doing a little exploring?

The pair of criminals had barely even managed to carry out a proper search through the empty centre's frost covered main atrium before an impossibly loud air-raid siren had begun to rip through what seemed like the entire town.

It was strange, but to Len it almost sounded like a warning.

While the siren continued to blare obnoxiously, everything around them had suddenly began to get very dark very quickly. Before the darkness managed to completely blind him, Len couldn't help but widen his eyes in sheer terror as he watched the apparently sentient snow covering each and every surface as far as the eyes could see start to spread like a virus under the shroud of impenetrable darkness. Once open doorways and passages were quickly being sealed up by miniature glaciers before Len's very eyes and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

It was as horrifying as it was fascinating. Yet another thing about this godforsaken town that didn't make any fucking sense. Len would just have to add that to the list then.

By the time Len's eyes adjusted to the insidious black haze he felt as though he were drowning in, Mick seemed to be long gone. Search as he may, Len couldn't find the slightest trace of his husband anywhere bar the man's recently acquired and now apparently abandoned pistol, which of course Len scooped up out the icy snow below without even a seconds hesitation. That would almost certainly come in handy.

With Mick apparently long gone, Len found that his beloved pyromanic seemed to have found himself replaced by a quickly approaching horde of pale, almost child-like monsters. The monsters were all skinless and wailing like they were living in an unimaginable perpetual agony and Len couldn't help but wince at the sight. Len would have almost felt sorry for the poor little bastards, if not for the fact they'd robbed him of his partner and then tried to gore him with their razor sharp claw not a moment later. That's what Len got for not paying attention he supposed.

Instinctively throwing himself forward and managing to roll out the way of a second more lethal looking swipe, Len cursed aloud as he immediately threw his hand down to cover the deep burning incisions torn along his side. Blood flowed freely from the four identical wound's and seemed to sizzle away silently as some tiny droplets of scarlet red fell from his body and landed on the snow below. Uh-oh, that wasn't good.

As if these horrid little hell-beasts couldn't get any worse, the fact that these faceless entities seemed to be beckoning forward another, more horrifying creature just cemented the fact than Len absolutely despised these little bastard.

Looming sinisterly on the edge of first floor directly above him was another creature entirely. Standing at what looked like just over six foot tall and shrouded in its very own cloud of a somehow even darker haze was... something that made Len feel uneasy to say the very least.

Truthfully, Len wasn't able to get all that good a look at the creature but he had managed to notice a few important and absolutely horrifying details that he'd be sure to tell his therapist about whenever he next got the chance. The creature had deep black eyes, sharpened claws in place of fingers and tiny rotten slits up its face in place of a mouth. A crackle of brilliant blue lightening crookedly coursed around the creature's entire body like maggots crawling over a rotten corpse and the snow beneath its feet seemed to have turned into grey ash.

The beast above was truly a sight to behold, but not exactly a pretty one.

What really caught Len's attention however was the fact that it almost looked as though there was a 'Flash' symbol printed across the creatures chest, albeit flipped around and – surprise surprise – coloured completely black.

While Len soaked in the sight of the demonic entity eyeing him up from the landing above, the rotten slits on the creatures face seemed to curve upwards into what looked like a twisted grimace as its eyes remained in a vicious battle with Len's across the desolate darkness of the frozen atrium surrounding them.

Watching the towering beast with a morbid fascination, Len couldn't help but keep his eyes trained on the monster as he watched the beast suddenly take off zooming like a rocket along the landing above and straight towards a small group of the skinless monsters making their way right towards Len. With a blood-curdling roar that seemed to shake the entire centre, the zooming creature raced ahead and phased through all three of the skinless monsters before it made a complete U-turn and came to a halt back in its original position on the edge of the floor above.

Less than a second later, the three little demon's all tilted their heads back and screamed in unison as without warning the creatures suddenly exploded in a haze of dark purple blood. Len couldn't be one hundred percent sure, but it almost sounded as though the zooming creature laughed at the sight of its brutal handiwork.

Turning its head over its shoulder, the zooming creature almost seemed to gesture towards the steaming mess of gore it had left behind in its wake with one of its clawed hands before it turned its attention back towards Len, who by now was already sprinting desperately across the icy mall towards what looked to be the only exit that hadn't suddenly frozen over in the wake of that god awful siren.

Keep moving Snart! Keep fucking moving!

Bursting through the single unfrozen doorway and finding himself inside what looked to have once been a greengrocers, Len took off tearing blinding through the darkness of the store and away from the manic howling of the skinless horde that seemed to be quickly closing in on him. Normally if Len had access to his trust Cold-Gun he'd have just used that to try and defend himself from the horde, but without it hiding really was the only option he had if he wanted to survive this unbelievably nightmare.

Unfortunately for Len, the store itself wasn't exactly plentiful in terms of viable hiding places. Most of the isles seemed to have been ruined in a fire before being covered by a thick layer of perfect, untouched snow. If these creatures had even three brain cells between them then chances are they'd notice his heavy bootprints in the snow and use them to track him down, It should go without saying that hiding in plain sight certainly wasn't an option.

It was just as Len felt himself beginning to panic that he had noticed a single door against the furthest away wall that seemed to be ever so slightly ajar. Len didn't have the first clue what was behind that door or where it maybe lead to, but if it meant he had even the slightest chance of surviving this madness then it would need to do.

Vaulting over a few of the burned down displays in a frantic struggle to find cover before the horde found him, Leonard charged ahead blindly through the darkness and into the little room along the back wall. Just about screaming triumphantly as he stumbled into the apparently safe zone, Len slammed the door into the small stock-room closed behind him and tried his best to take in his surroundings as quickly as he possibly could. Normally Len would have just frozen the door solid, but once again not having his trademark weapon on him was proving debilitating. Since when had he became so reliant on the damn thing?

C'mon Snart, think! THINK!

The room itself was mostly unremarkable to say the very least. From what Len could see the room was pretty damn tiny, with tall shelving that stretched from the floor to the ceiling covering each and every inch of the walls inside the room. The shelving themselves seemed to be stocked with hundreds of out of date cans of food and not much else. Perhaps Len were being a touch too optimistic in hoping that there was a stronger firearm than his pistol just hiding away in here?

Back to the point, there didn't seem to be another other way in or out of the room bar the way he'd come in, so at the very least those monsters quickly drawing up on him only had one to get and get to him. That Len could work with.

Deciding that his usual brand of subtle theatricality just wasn't going to cut it under these dire circumstances, Len lurched forward and quickly tipped one of the large metal shelves over on to its side and managed to slot one of the corners into the other identical shelve sitting at the opposite side of the door. As anticipated, the shelves seemed to lock into place, and just in time too, as the shrieking wails of the skinless horde that had been stalking him charged up to the door and begun to pound down furiously on the hopefully solid wooden frame with tremendous force.

Delicately stepping backwards with his left hand still pressed down hard onto the continuously oozing gashes running up his side and his right desperately gripping onto Mick's abandoned pistol, Len aimed the barrel of the gun towards the door and instinctively closed his eyes as he pulled the trigger... only to hear an almost unnoticeable click emit from the shining barrel as the gun failed to fire.

On the other side of the door, the banshee like roar of the screeching monsters hammering down on the door grew louder and louder as more of them gathered together outside the quickly withering doorway. With each heavy strike the door made a cracking noise that seemed to be getting louder and louder the faster the horde battered in to it. At this rate, the door itself wouldn't last another minute.

It was official, Len was completely fucked.

Cursing aloud as he rocketed the now empty gun ahead of him and into the door, Len stumbled backwards and placed both his hands down against the sides of his head as he kept his eyes trained on the door straight head of him beating like it were going into cardiac arrest as the innumerable sea of wailing monstrosities continued to try and force their way into the room.

This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening.

Continuing to retreat further into the room with his eyes still drawn towards the door before him, Len begun to come to terms with the idea that this was the end for him. He'd put up a good fight, and truthfully he had hoped to die of old age or something equally mundane, but who could say that 'Torn to death by a horde of skinless children' wouldn't be a pretty amazing thing to write on a tombstone?

Truthfully, Len's only regret was that Lisa and Mick would more than likely suffer the same fate as he was about to if they too remained perpetually stuck wandering around this not-so-abandoned town. It was foolish of him to hope so, but Len really did hope that if his family were to meet their fate in this horrible nightmare realm that it would at least be as quick and painless for them as it could possibly be. They deserved that much.

It was at that point that without warning, death came to Leonard Snart in an all too familiar guise.

With a dull howl of pure agony, Len froze completely on the spot and felt his legs turn to jelly as his entire world seemed to turn to grey within the blink of an eye. Glancing away from the door for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Len hesitantly looked down his body and couldn't help but whimper weakly at the sight of the jet black, blood-soaked claw that had tore through his chest like it were a sheet of paper. Upon seeing what looked to be his still faintly beating heart held proudly in the creatures hand, Len felt himself go completely numb all over as death's comforting embrace begun to consume him.

Gasping for air and then screaming in agony as the creature ripped its hand free from his chest with reckless abandon, Len sunk down to the floor and watched in absolute, spine-chilling terror as the black zooming monster cloaked in blue lightening narrowed its black, beady eyes and slowly begun to approach the quickly fading Len with that same, twisted grimace pulling away at the corners of its shredded remains of a mouth.

* * *

A bright white light that scorched his eyes.

" _Wake up god dammit! WAKE UP!"_

The sting of a needle being rammed into his arm _._

 _"We're loosing him! NURSE, GET ME THE DEFIBRILLATOR!"_

A burst of agonizing electricity that seemed to furiously zap each and every muscle in his body.

" _HE'S DYING! HE'S FUCKING DYING! DO SOMETHING! DO SOMETHING!"_

His sisters heartbreaking wails filling the air around him like a noxious gas.

" _Zoom"_

* * *

" _GET AWAY!"_ Len screamed frantically as he lunged forward off of the shelving behind him and back down onto the snowy floor with a cushioned thud. Around him, a deadly silence radiated and seemed to insidiously buzz in his ear. The absence of any noise besides his panicked breathing was almost more terrifying that the shrieking wails from the ghoulish horde... well, almost anyway.

How was he still alive? That zooming creature had killed him! It had ripped his fucking heart out with his bare hands?!... hadn't it?

Over at the door out of the stockroom, the shelving that he had used as a makeshift barrier was now standing back up in place with all the scattered items sitting exactly where they had been before he had toppled it. In between the shelving, the door in and out of the tiny stock room showed no signs of the wear and tear that had almost destroyed it what had only seemed like a few short moments ago.

Len felt sick to his stomach at the sight. What the fuck was going on?

Pushing himself up off the floor and back onto his feet, Len took a few tentative steps forward towards the door with a feeling of unshakable dread hanging oppressively in the pit of his stomach. Every fibre of his being was screaming that this was a terrible idea and truthfully Len knew that it probably was, it was just that had no other options.

Having the piece of mind to retrieve the pistol from where it landed among the snow, Len sucked in a shaky breath as he desperately tried to settle his nerves. The gun may have been empty, but he'd rather hold on to it if not just for some much needed peace of mind. Len felt naked enough as it was without his Cold-Gun, and while the unloaded pistol wasn't anywhere near close to his beloved weapon it did provide him with at least a little comfort, something the town seemed determined to rob from him with each passing second he spent stranded there.

Without further dwelling on it, Len reached out and slowly begun to pry the door out of his safe-haven open... only to find that the frost remains of the shop looked mostly untouched.

" _What the... no, no, no, no no! What the fuck is going on?"_ Len whispered to himself as he continued to inch his way further out of his safe haven and into the positively eerie greengrocer just outside. There were no footprints in the snow bar his own, no signs of the nightmarish struggle he'd endured at the hand of the demonic horde, nothing. Nothing at all to suggest this hellish little town had just forced him through yet another world-shattering experience that his therapist would be hearing about for the next few decades at the very least.

It was strange to admit but Len almost felt thankful to see that the deep red wound one of the members of the horde had bestowed upon him was still present on his body. If it weren't for the gaudy slits travelling up his side then Len would have seriously begun to believe that... well, that whatever the hell had happened was all in his head.

" _What the fuck? What the hell is going on in this fucking town?"_ Len screamed furiously as his eyes continued to dart anxiously around each and every inch of the seemingly abandoned shop. Len couldn't tell what was worse, the idea that he was going insane and that last nights seemingly endless nightmare was all in his head, or the idea that whatever had happened was real and that things were only going to get more difficult from here on out.

Heavy snow in the middle of July was certainly not the strangest thing about the genuine slice of hell on earth that they called 'Silent Hill'. Nothing in this town made the slightest big of sense. The hellish demonic horde of skinless monstrosities and their demonic ruler were just the cherry on top of this marvellous, mysterious cake and truthfully Len wasn't really sure that he wanted to know what exactly what was happening inside this horrifying little town.

Ignorance was bliss, and if years of dealing with secrets had taught him anything it was that while curiosity certainly had killed the cat, satisfaction rarely ever brought it back.

Among the sea of endless mystery, one thing was for certain though. Len had to find his Sister and his Husband before, well... before whatever had happened just a few hours ago happened again. Nothing else but finding his family and keeping them safe mattered to him anymore. Now all he had to do of course was find them, which Len knew fine well would be much easier said than done.

As he stepped out of the greengrocer and back into the shopping centre's main atrium, Len just hoped that he'd find be able to find both Lisa and Mick before it was too late.


	6. Day Six: An Itch You Just Can't Scratch

" _Does yours ever itch?"_ Mick suddenly asked from his position on the couch while he continued to watch Len, who was sitting up against their workbench across the room, tinker away with his Cold-Gun.

" _Huh? Did you say something Micky?"_ Len asked softly while he continued to silently work away on the weapon in his hands.

" _I asked does yours ever itch?"_ Mick repeated with a smirk.

" _Does my what ever itch?"_ Len asked with an exasperated sigh while he carefully placed his beloved trademark firearm down onto the bench before turning his body around to face Mick. _"I hope you're not just being crude again Mick because I'm really not in the mood for it today."_

" _Get yer mind out of the gutter Lenny, I'm talking about yer mark of course."_ Mick said with a tone that suggested it was apparently rather obvious. _"Mine does sometimes if we end up on like, jobs in different cities from one another or something like that."_

" _What mar- oh, right."_ Len said as he carefully slid his sleeve up along his arm to reveal the word 'Michael' written across his right wrist in block capitals. _"You mean this one?"_

" _Yep, that's the one. What other mark did you think I was asking about?"_ Mick couldn't help but say with a hearty chuckle.

" _How the hell am I supposed to know? I thought you were asking me about that annoying little mole just above my left nipple again. You always have been oddly fascinated with it."_ Len said as he gently traced his finger across the text imprinted on his wrist. _"And to answer your question, yes, it itches sometimes when we're separated for too long."_

" _Huh. That's kind of interesting."_ Mick said.

" _Yeah, I suppose it is."_ Len asked as he got up out of his chair and begun to walk over towards the couch where Mick had sprawled himself out over like a tired house-cat _"What's got you so interested in our marks all of a sudden? Yours playing up again or something?"_

" _Nah, nothing like that."_ Mick said as he sat himself up properly on the couch. _"Its just that I was talking to Rathaway yesterday and he mentioned that whenever him and Jesse fight or something like that his mark burns something fierce. Mine itches more than anything else, and no matter how hard I scratch it the itching just never seems to fades. Well, at least not until I see you again anyway. Its quirky, but I like it. Besides that its also been known to burn up every once in a while too, but that's only happened one or twice now."_

" _Y'know I never actually knew that about Hartley? They say that everyone's marks behave differently though, so that's not too surprising if I'm being honest."_ Len said evenly as he took a seat down next to Mick on the couch. _"Mine goes numb sometimes too actually. Remember that time we had that massive argument and I ended up throwing you out? Well, that entire night my arm felt numb from about the elbow down. Completely numb. It wasn't until you came crawling back home the very next morning that some feeling finally came back to it. It was... unpleasant."_

" _Huh. You never mentioned that before."_ Mick remarked.

" _Never had a reason too."_ Len said back with an indifferent shrug. _"Didn't seem all that important really. Like I said, everyone's mark's behave differently so I never really put much thought into it."_

Moving just a few inches or so along the couch and away from Len, Mick too rolled his sleeve up over his wrist and stared at his own little mark. Printed across his right wrist was the name 'Leonard', written in bold block capitals in such a way that it was pretty much identical to Len's own mark. Not exactly the fanciest of marks, Mick had known someone in school who's mark was written in a fancy looking cursive, but it was special to him and that's all that really mattered at the end of the day.

" _Its kind of fitting though right?"_ Mick said as a warm smile began to make itself apparent on his face.

" _What is?"_ Len asked.

" _The fact that our marks both seem to itch more than anything else."_ Mick said with a small nod, all while he continued to gently stroke his husband's name printed across his wrist.

" _You've lost me. What're you talking about?"_ Len said with a less than enthusiastic tone as he turned his body around so he could properly face Mick.

" _I just think it sums us up pretty well is all. I mean, we really are the itch we just can't ever seem to scratch. We can fight, argue and throw each other out as much as we like, but in the end we're always going to be drawn back to one another, y'know?"_ Mick said. _"Truly the itch we can never quite seem to scratch."_

For a moment, Len sat and stared ahead at Mick with a curious look in his pale blue eyes. The other male almost looked pensive as he seemed to allow himself some time to mull over Mick's words. Mick would admit, he was suddenly feeling rather nervous now as he continued to eagerly await Len's response. Had he overdone it?

" _Wow, that was schmaltzy as hell."_ Len eventually said with an appreciative chuckle as he leaned over across the couch and tenderly pressed his lips against Mick's. _"Schmaltzy as hell, but also absolutely fucking adorable. Who knew you had such a sensitive side hidden away behind all that dickish-ness Micky. You sure you're feeling alright?"_

" _As fine as I possibly can be Lenny. I'm just... feeling appreciative, that's all."_ Mick smiled while he watched Len slink back on to his own space on the couch. _"Can't a guy just feel happy about how his life is going without having his motives questioned?"_

" _When the guy in question never fails to get an erection while driving by tyre fires, I think I am well within my rights to ask about his motives whenever he starts acting strangely."_ Len taunted playfully.

" _Touché."_ Mick replied with a smirk as he reached over across the couch and took Len's hand within his own. _"But really though, can you blame me? Have you seen the way those bright orange flames just seem to dance around in the air with one another like tiny ballerina's on a string? Tease me all you like Lenny but you have to admit, some fires can be gorgeous."_

" _Not as gorgeous as you."_ Len added with another smirk as he gave Mick's hand a re-assuring squeeze.

" _Flatterer."_ Mick couldn't help but say with a laugh. _"And apparently I'm the schmaltzy one. You're worse than I am!"_

" _Yep, and I'm proud of it too. Wanna know why?"_ Len purred tenderly as he begun pulling Mick across the couch and in closer towards him.

" _Sure thing. I'm all ears Pretty-Boy."_ Mick said from behind a smug smirk as allowed himself to be dragged along the couch before he himself pushed Lenny down backwards and lay his body down atop the other man's.

" _Because while you may be a sucker for fire..."_ Len said as he wrapped his legs around Mick's waist before pulling the other man down into a deep, passionate kiss. _"I'm a sucker for you."_


	7. Day Seven: Brooding Blue Eyes

Leonard Snart had always thought of himself as a rather complex individual made up of many different things. He was a criminal. He was an older brother. He was a husband. He was one hell of a poker player. He was Rogue. He was a pretty good singer (given the right song of course). He was a damn fine cook.

One thing Leonard Snart was not though, was father-material. At least, he didn't think he was anyway.

Therefore it should go without saying that when Mark Mardon, Central City's infamous Weather Wizard, had asked Len and Mick to watch his young son Josh for the weekend while he and his partners went away for a much needed romantic getaway, it had suddenly made Len feel as though he were about to be thrown in way over his head. Robbing a bank was one thing, but taking care of a kid? Oh boy was that a different kettle of fish entirely.

Before Len could politely refuse and make up some crummy reason as to why they couldn't, Mick had excitedly exclaimed _"Yeah, sounds great!"_ to the clearly awkward wizard standing in their doorway. Len swore he almost had an aneurysm while trying not to punch Mick's damn lights out for agreeing to watch the kid so quickly without even consulting Len first. What the hell had Mick gotten them in to?

* * *

 _"Uncle Lenny?"_ Josh asked as he gazed up at Len from behind a set of wide brown eyes.

" _What's up buddy?"_ Len answered with an unusually warm smile as he glanced down towards the tiny child sitting next to him.

" _What's Uncle Micky doing?"_ Josh asked with a raised brow as he pointed towards the clearly flustered Mick halfway across the busy food court, who seemed to be having one hell of a difficult time carrying over the blue plastic tray stacked with an obscene amount of food.

" _He's juggling our lunches by the looks of it. Perhaps he took your asking for a milkshake a little too literally."_ Len replied sardonically while Josh only gasped in response.

" _Uncle Micky can juggle?! Was he in the circus?"_ Asked the boy as Mick only just managed to avoid toppling over a running child that had tried to zip past him. Sometimes Len forgot that his sarcasm was lost on the tiny child. Wasn't going to stop him being that way though.

" _You know, he was actually! He was a fire-eater, surprise surprise, although he has been accused of being a clown too more than once in his life."_ Len said. _"Why don't you ask him about it when he sits down?"_

" _Okay, I will! I wonder if he'd be able to juggle me and Stormy!"_ Josh said excitedly as he bounced up and down in his seat.

After what looked to be a legendary struggle, Mick finally made it back to the table with both himself and the food balancing on the tray still in one piece. Impressive.

" _Jesus Christ, that was an absolute fuc- freaking nightmare!"_ Mick heaved out.

" _Nice save there Micky."_ Len said. _"You know how Mardon gets when you start using that kind of language around Josh."_  
 _"What? What's that about my daddy?"_ Josh asked

" _Nothin' kid, Uncle Lenny's just being a buzz-kill again."_ Mick said with an obnoxiously cocky smirk as he handled over Josh's Happy Meal and his milkshake. _"Anyway, eat up. Don't want it getting cold now, do we?"_

" _Nope. Cold fries suck."_ Josh said.

" _Atta boy."_ Mick said as he reached over across the table and ruffled the boys hair. Len couldn't help but crack a smile as he watched the pairs genuinely heart-warming interactions. Who knew Mick could be so damn adorable?

* * *

The rest of the weekend had went much smoother than Len could have ever expected. After lunch on the Friday afternoon, they'd all returned to Len's apartment for a game of Monopoly that Josh had somehow managed to win. Neither Len nor Mick were 100% sure how he'd did it, but both had decided that it was too funny to question. Afterwards they had ordered some pizza and then all three of them fell asleep on the couch. Sometime during the night, Mick must have woken up and moved Josh into his own bed and then moved Len into their bed.

The next day they had travelled over to Mark's apartment, at Josh's insistence, to check up on Stormy, the Mardon family's pet Corgi. While Mick and Josh went inside to check on the dog, Len stayed in the car. The mutt had never liked Len much for some odd reason so he had just decided to keep himself out of the way. After that, the three of them had went to the movies to see some absolutely horrific animated feature, that Josh had loved by the way, and then had gotten some ice-cream afterwards. The intense sugar-high Josh experienced for the rest of that evening was something to behold.

On Sunday they all had a proper lie-in before heading off to the local pool for a bit of a swim. Mark had mentioned that Josh was a total water-baby but who knew the kid would keep swimming around the large pool quite contently for almost three whole hours before loudly declaring to Len and Mick that he was tired and wanted to go home.

Now finding himself walking through the busy streets of Central City with Josh up on his shoulders and his hands carefully wrapped around the young boys ankles, Len glanced to his left and soaked up the sight of the clearly ecstatic Mick to his side, his wide smile almost seemed to be radiating in the pale moonlight as he listened eagerly to whatever it was that Josh was saying while nodding away enthusiastically.

Seeing his husband looking so damn happy put an oddly comforting feeling in the pit of Len's stomach that effortlessly wiped away any lingering anxieties he had about this weekend. What was it about being around little Josh that seemed to bring out the very best in his beloved Micky? Len couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he certainly wasn't complaining about it anyway.

* * *

It was late on the Sunday evening before Mark had appeared at their apartment to pick up his son. Len would rather face a thousand painful deaths than admit this to a living soul, but he was almost disappointed when Mark finally showed up to collect Josh.

" _So, how was he?"_ Mardon whispered.

" _As good as gold."_ Len said back as quietly as he could while stepped to the side and nodded towards the adorable sight in the living room. Fast asleep on the couch in a sitting position was Mick with Josh fast asleep at his side snuggled up to the comparatively giant man next to him. _"We even managed to get him to sleep for you. Don't say I never did anything for you Mark."_

" _Shit man, I really owe you one."_ Mark admitted with a smile as he swept his hand through his hair. _"Julie, Axel and I just really needed a some time away together without Josh, so yeah, I really appreciate it Lenny."_

" _Don't mention it. You know me, always happy to help."_ Len said with a knowing smile. _"Besides Mick's the one who did most of the heavy lifting today if I'm being completely honest. Both literally and metaphorically speaking of course."_

" _I was gonna say, they both look absolutely exhausted."_ Mark said fondly as he silently begun to head over towards the couch where the sleeping pair lay. _"Mick's got younger siblings doesn't he? No wonder he's so good with Josh."_

" _Yeah, he does. Mick's the eldest and he's got two younger brothers and a younger sister. He doesn't see them much anymore since they're all still back on the farm, but he talks with them almost everyday."_ Len said. _"I've met them a fair few times now. They're nice enough."_

" _Mick's a big softy really, so that doesn't surprise me all that much."_ Mark said as he gently scooped the still fast asleep Josh up from his seat besides Mick and bundled him up in his arms so the sleeping child's head was resting on his shoulders.

" _Oh lord, don't let Mick hear you saying that. He's far too proud of the 'crazy impulsive pyromaniac' image he's built up over the years. He starts thinking that people think he's going soft and I don't know what he'd do."_ Len chuckled.

" _I'll be sure to keep that in mind."_ Mark said.

" _Please do. After all, it'll be me who's forced to listen to him rambling on about it if he ever did find out. My poor ears can only take so much."_ Len said.  
 _"I bet."_ Mark whispered back as he carefully made his way back towards the door with Len following on close behind. _"And again, thanks for this Lenny. I really do appreciate it."_

" _Don't mention it. Have a safe drive home Mark. Tell Axel and Julie I said hi."_ Len replied as he reached forward and grabbed the doors handle.

" _I will. G'night Len."_ Mark concluded with a small nod as he carted himself and his still sleeping son out of his apartment and down the hallway towards the stairs.

Closing the door over as delicately as he possibly could, Len couldn't help but heave out a deep sigh as he found himself standing in his now mostly silent apartment. The silence radiating through the walls of his home seemed almost foreign now that Josh had went home and taken all the wonderful noise he'd quickly grown accustomed to with him. In truth, Len wasn't sure if he was glad to have things back to normality or not.

Making his way back over to the couch before laying himself down next to his still softly sleeping partner, Len moved Mick's arm up and around him so he could have it comfortingly wrapped around his shoulder as he carefully tried to make himself comfortable at his lovers side. Resting his head down on Mick's chest and closing his eyes, Len held Mick's hand in his own as he silently wondered how on earth he would go around letting Mick know that this weekends adventures in parenting had suddenly left him feeling a way he hadn't ever felt in his entire life.

He felt broody.


End file.
